Ibrahim Omer (born 1979/1980) is an Eritrean-born New Zealand politician. In 2020 he became a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for the Labour Party.

Early life

Omer is a

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

from

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

. His mother language is Saho and he is a

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

. He fled his home as a teenager to

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

, where the

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...

became involved and referred his case on to third countries for resettlement. While in

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

-run refugee camps in Sudan, Omer worked as an interpreter. This work led to suspicions of spying, and he was retained by authorities until the United Nations intervened.

Education and organising career

He arrived in New Zealand in 2008, through New Zealand's refugee quota. Omer says that his time in New Zealand began with cleaning and scrubbing floors; this period included working as a cleaner at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

where he would study and earn a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

in 2016. Omer described working until 4am cleaning the university, then attending a lecture at 10am in a room that he had cleaned the night before. Omer has worked as a union organiser for

E tū E tū is a New Zealand trade union created in October 2015 through the merger of the Service & Food Workers Union, the Flight Attendants and Related Services Union, and the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union The Engineering, Print ...

, and as a community advocate, including as chairperson of ChangeMakers Resettlement Forum. For this work he was awarded an Absolutely Positively Wellingtonian Award by the

Wellington City Council Wellington City Council is a territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the country's capital city Wellington, and ''de facto'' second-largest city (if the commonly considered parts of Wellington, the Upper Hutt, Porirua, Lower Hutt and ...

in 2019. Omer was also involved in advocating for a living wage, especially for cleaners at Victoria University of Wellington.

Member of Parliament

Omer entered Parliament in the . He was placed 42nd on the Labour Party's party list, and Labour won enough seats to allow him to enter Parliament with that ranking. Omer is New Zealand's first African MP, and the second to have entered New Zealand as a refugee. Following

Jacinda Ardern Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the member of ...

's resignation as Prime Minister in 2023, Omer stated that " Throughout the past five and a half years, she has led with decisiveness, empathy and kindness".

Political views

Omer has expressed a desire to focus on racism, unequal opportunities, and issues facing low-paid workers during his time in Parliament. In December 2020, Omer joined

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

MPs

Golriz Ghahraman Golriz Ghahraman ( fa, گلریز قهرمان; born 1981) is an Iranian-born New Zealand politician, member of Parliament, and author. The former United Nations lawyer was a child asylum seeker, and became the first refugee elected to New Zea ...

and

Teanau Tuiono Teanau Tuiono (born 25 December 1972) is a New Zealand politician. In 2020 he became a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives as a representative of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand. Early life and career Tuiono was born on ...

in pledging to form a new parliamentary Palestine friendship group to "raise the voices of Palestinian peoples in the New Zealand Parliament" during an event organised by the Wellington Palestine advocacy group to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Omer, Ibrahim Living people New Zealand people of Eritrean descent New Zealand Muslims New Zealand Labour Party MPs New Zealand list MPs 21st-century New Zealand politicians Eritrean politicians Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Candidates in the 2020 New Zealand general election Year of birth missing (living people)